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Tuesday, 7 April 2015

Mortals/Repellers - ‘Split’ EP (Review)

Album Type:
Split EP

Date
Released: 10/03/2015

Label:
Broken Limbs Recordings

‘Split’
LP//DD track listing:

1. Mortals - 10 Years of Filth

2. Repellers - Descend

3. Repellers - From Jericho to Ai

4. Repellers - False Solace

Mortals
is:

Lesley Wolf | Bass, Vocals

Elizabeth Cline | Guitar, Vocals

Caryn Havlik | Drums

Repellers
is:

Rob Peraitis | Bass, Vocals

Tony Secreto | Drums, Vocals

Jon Rifenburg | Guitar Vocals

Review:

Mortals are one of the most exciting bands of
the last several years. While they’ve been around for five years, their 2014
album ‘Cursed to See the Future’ through Relapse Records was one of the great
albums of the year, and for many—myself included—it was their first exposure to
the band. Now they’re back with a split EP on Broken Limbs recordings with
Philadelphia’s Repellers.

Mortals starts the EP off in fantastic fashion
with their sole contribution, “10 Years of Filth”. The track largely follows
the same formula from ‘Cursed to See the Future’, a potent blend of High on
Fire style sludge and melodic black metal. They also continue to write longer
songs in a kind of movement-style arrangement rather than verse chorus. “10
Years of Filth” is a smorgasbord of towering riffs and thunderous drums, from
its early sludge stampede to the borderline thrash and black metal section that
makes up the songs later stages.

Every member of Mortals plays a vital role.
Vocalist/bassist Lesley Wolf’s coarse howl has all the power and savagery of
later-era Chuck Schuldiner, but she also knows when to lay out and let the
music carry the moment. Elizabeth Cline’s guitar work is deceptively
simple-sounding. Having seen her bring these riffs to life in a live setting
sees her seemingly doing the guitar work of two people, with sprawling, layered
chords. Drummer Caryn Havlik’s varied drumming approach is equally impressive.
While she certainly hits as hard as anyone, she’s also has an exceptional mind
for crafting unique rhythms and drum beats within a heavy metal framework. It
should go without saying that this split deserves a listen based on this track alone.
Luckily, the split would warrant an easy recommendation even if this were just
a Repellers EP.

Repellers have been active for a few years now,
though they’ve only put out short-form releases to this point. This split is my
first exposure to the band, but it’s clear they're onto something with their
crusty melodic death metal approach. “Descend” is anchored by alternating riffs
that would sound at home on an early Amon Amarth or (forgive the obscure
reference) Prophanity album, complemented by some His Hero is Gone style crust
throughout.

Elsewhere, Repellers evoke the moodiest material
of crust legends Misery and late 90s Impaled Nazarene, all while giving their
own unique spin on things and gracefully avoiding coming across as a band too
closely tied to their influences. One can’t help but see great things for
Repellers as time goes on, as they’ve got all the pieces in play for a
fantastic full length some day. Repellers is a band on the ascent that
absolutely demands your attention if you have any interest in the genres they
blend.

While there are definitely splits where one band
is clearly at a higher level than the other, that isn’t really the case here.
You might have an inclination towards one band or the other based on genre
preference, but these are two bands making excellent music, and that’s all you
can really ask for on a release like this.

Band Submissions

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We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks